


With Time

by nchi_wana



Category: Juuni Kokki | Twelve Kingdoms
Genre: Gen, Yuletide 2015
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-06
Updated: 2015-12-06
Packaged: 2018-05-05 08:41:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,379
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5368886
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nchi_wana/pseuds/nchi_wana
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As he awaits Youko's return from a mission, Keiki remembers the reason for his hope.</p>
            </blockquote>





	With Time

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sumeria](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sumeria/gifts).



He didn’t doubt her. Though the struggle had been long and had yet to abate, through the years he had learned not to doubt. It wasn’t so much doubt now, however, as it was worry Keiki had to learn to banish these days. It was worry for her safety, not so much what she can’t accomplish.

Out the window he set his eyes on the horizon. Every day he found himself standing there, waiting, hoping, and anticipating. How much time had passed, he didn’t know. All the days and hours and minutes ran together. Had there been night? Keiki couldn’t recall. All his eyes would see was that blue skyline, searching for the glimmer of her return. She would return, and he didn’t doubt that, either. It was worry brought on by time.

There was once a period when the wait was agonizing nearly beyond his ability to manage. As the people of Kei suffered in the absence of a ruler, Keiki remained safe on Mount Hou. During Shouzan the line of people had stretched out of the building and never seemed to end. Each face searched Keiki’s as they awaited his reply, appearing eager, curious, and ambitious. What bothered him was the chance the next ruler wasn’t on Mount Hou. Questions gnawed at him throughout Shouzan. Didn’t this person desire the kingship? Were they lost? Most of all, did they know Shouzan was happening?

He’d had to go “over there.” Something had pulled at his spirit, whispered and told him that he could scour the land for his ruler and never find them. At night he’d lie awake to stare at the ceiling of his room, his soul searching while his body rested. The pull was irresistible. It was not here he needed to be, but “over there.” Hourai. That foreign place with foreign faces and foreign customs.

The air in the classroom had been saturated with all varieties of human emotion. Keiki had almost choked on it as he arrived, but the feeling vanished when he set eyes on her. Her hair had been the wrong color, and somehow he’d known that, as if he instinctively knew how she ought to appear. Plus she was demure and timid, trembling and staring wide-eyed. This was the first of his misgivings.

But chained to the side of Joei, Keiki always felt the pull to his queen. Like now, he would keep his eyes open and searching, knowing that the pull he felt was Youko, though he could do nothing to answer the incessant call. He’d been weak and tired, yet hopeful. As long as he could sense her, she was alive, and he had hope.

She had survived the struggle, and taken back her kingdom. It had been the first surprise for him. The longer he had waited, the more his doubts increased, but she had fought for what was hers despite the risks, despite the danger, and despite being denied a return to Hourai, the place she called home. She fought, something he never thought she would do. Would You-ou have fought? Probably not. She didn’t fight even when the kingdom was hers, and she could’ve with the power that was already at her disposal.

The memory of victory triggered hope as it had done that day, and the emotion lingered while Keiki sat by the window and watched. For a moment he thought he saw something in that far distance, but it was probably just his hope creating mirages. Keiki created many such mirages in the days of You-ou. There were no more to be had when Youko arrived. It hadn’t been long before doubt replaced hope, as it would take more than one battle of arms for Youko to succeed. She had to next survive the cold war of the courts.

But he never anticipated a different sort of war, one between Youko and himself. A lack of understanding, patience, and the stress of learning palace culture festered tension between them. Youko was making progress, certainly, but it only seemed in Keiki’s view to hinder the improvements Kei needed to lift itself out of chaos—

Was that something flying toward the palace? Keiki stood from his seat to have a closer look. He felt nothing significant, and realized it was just a seicho. The bird veered away to another destination. Disappointment dropped a hard stone in Keiki’s heart. Then again, maybe the seicho was from Youko. Soon one of the officials would come running to tell him news. But if the message was from her, why didn’t she send him the news first?

Keiki went to reseat himself when he glanced at the papers strewn over Youko’s desk. He could’ve sworn they were organized when she left. Did a breeze move them? He neatly stacked the sheets again and settled them beside a mound of scrolls. Keiki wanted everything in the room to be in good order when she returned, and she would any minute…right?

Some educational materials were mixed in with the stacks. Through the last twenty years those materials had dwindled. Keiki gave a little smile. It was the small things he saw each day, whether in the office, in the throne room, or the improvements in the kingdom that had slowly built up his hope, and thus his trust.

Perhaps it hadn’t been right to judge her from the start. A ruler can start strong and end tragically, sometimes in a very short period. Keiki had seen that a number of times already. The gods chose Youko for her potential, and thus she needed to be shaped, encouraged, and supported. Rulers didn’t always come ready-made. Keiki came to understand that he needed to be involved in her shaping. Where he had failed with You-ou, he wanted to succeed with Youko.

With every new day his queen’s “shape” became more complete, and Keiki’s heart felt more at ease. There were still youma in the land, court battles to be won, and two-faced officials to fend off. But like a swollen stream receding after a flood, the water would soon shrink back to its banks. The course of the stream may have shifted, but then nothing ever looks the same again after a storm. Keiki believed the swollen stream of Kei was getting closer every year to receding back to normal. In fact, he sincerely felt the change in the end would be more beautiful than he imagined. He longed to see the great swaths of green fields once again, and the people reaping the harvest of harmony. It was finally coming within reach.

The doors to the office opened, catching Keiki by surprise. He was in the process of nudging a scroll into perfect alignment with the others on the desk when Youko strolled in. She was dressed in a casual silk dress, her hair pulled up with a pin dangling with jade beads. She looked as if she had never left the palace.

Keiki straightened. “Your Majesty! When did you return?”

“An hour ago,” Youko replied with raised brows. “Didn’t anyone tell you?”

“No.” He was angry with himself for not knowing. He’d been waiting so long…

His queen gave a knowing smile. “Probably because no one wanted to bother you. Everyone’s telling me how melancholy you’ve been since I left. You’ve been sitting by the window again, haven’t you?”

Warmth came to Keiki’s cheeks. “I just worry, that’s all.”

Youko strode over to her desk and pulled out a small scroll from one of her voluminous sleeves. “You don’t need to. Everything’s going to be fine. I checked out Imi village and the people there aren’t going to start a rebellion. They’re just angry, but I know what we can do to help them.”

She cared. It was one of the traits Keiki had come to respect about her. She cared about what she was doing and wanted to do it right. Using newfound knowledge, Youko was always eager to get to work.

The little scroll was smoothed out over the desk. Youko leaned over the parchment and was about to say something to Keiki when she stopped short.

“What’s the matter? Why are you smiling?” she asked.

The warmth came again to Keiki. “I’m just happy you’re back.”

Youko grinned.


End file.
